The laws and practice of the game of euchre. As adopted by the Washington, D.C. euchre club

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

i

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. !

THE LAWS AND PRACTICE

OF THE

GAME OF EUCHRE.

As adopted by the Washington, J), ft, Euchre Club.
BY A PKOFESSOK.

ONE OP THE OLDEST AND MOST NOTED EUCHRE PLAYERS IN THE UNITED
STATES, AND A MEMBER OP THE WASHINGTON EUCHRE CLUB.

TO WHICH IS ADDED THE

RULES FOR PLAYING "DRAW POKER."

f;

PHILADELPHIA
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS.

1877.

&VI249

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

PREFACE.

No sedentary game is more popular, or
so generally played for amusement in do-
mestic circles, throughout the wide spread
"eminent demesne" of the United States,
as Euchre — the Queen of all card-games;
and but few, we regret to say it, possess
less printed authoritative reference for con-
sultation. Hence difficulties, doubts, differ-
ences of opinion, and local customs of play,
exercise an irksome influence even among
skillful players, and solely for the want of
some proper compendium of the laws and
of the correct practice of the game. To
supply this deficiency, in an humble way,
the ensuing pages, sanctioned by "very
noble and approved good masters," are ten-
derly tendered.

THE AUTHOR.
Washington, D. C.

CONTENTS.

— ***

GAME OF EUCHRE.

CHAPTER I.
Preliminary 23

CHAPTER II.
Mode of Playing 35

CHAPTER III.
On Playing Alone 44

CHAPTER IV.
Lap, Slam, Jambone, and Jamboree.. — 59

CHAPTER V.
Technicalities 78

CHAPTER VI.
Laws of the Game 88

CHAPTER VII.
Hints to Tyros 105

RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER.

The Deal and Dealing of the Cards.. .135

Every Player for Himself 138

Drawing of Cards 140

Relative Value of Hands in their

Order, Beginning with the Best 142

(21)

EUCHRE.

CHAPTEE I.

PRELIMINARY.

11 Four knaves in garbs succinct, a trusty band,
Caps on their beads, and balberts in tbeir band ;
And party-color'd troops, a shining train,
Drawn forth to combat on the velvet plain.' ' — Pope,

Those clever fellows, who, in social circles,
or at the club, resort to the exciting combi-
nations exhibited by

*" The painted tablets, dealt and dealt again" —

recreation and amusement being their only
aim — accredit Euchre, par excellence, the
most entertaining and fascinating of all the*
games of cards yet invented.

(23)

24 EUCHRE.

The earliest knowledge which we, person-
ally, have been able to gather of this our
favorite card-game, was its introduction in
the Metropolis of the Union, in the days —
" those days are passed, Floranthe" — of Gen-
eral Jackson's first presidential term, by an
ardent and slightly illiterate admirer of the
General's — an Honorable M. C, from the
Tennessee State — who was wont emphatically
to pronounce it the " hazardestest game on
the keards;" though the game had been
played, long prior to that period, in every
inhabited township plat of the northwestern
territory, and on every raft and steamboat
afloat upon the exulting waters of the Mis-
sissippi Eiver.

There exists a legend ascribing its inven-
tion to two Friars, "of orders gray," who
had been imprisoned for some improper prac-
tice, or other malversation., and who are said
to have invented the game to while away the
tedious hours of incarceration ; but the story
is rather apocryphal.

It is also narrated that the game sprang

PRELIMINARY. 25

like Venus, from the sea, — that it is the re-
sult of a sailorman's ingenuity, Jack revers-
ing the usual order of things on shipboard
by placing his namesakes in command, and
giving them the appropriate nautical appel-
lations of Eight-Bower, and Left-Bower,
in compliment to the main anchors of the
ship.

The origin of the game — generally ad-
mitted to be German — is not satisfactorily
explained, and no mention whatever is made
of it in the curious and elaborate treatise by
S. W. Singer, entitled Eesearches into the
History of Playing Cards, 4to., London, 1816 ;
nor in any of the English editions of Hoyle's
Games; nor in Captain Crawley's Handy
Book of Games for Gentlemen, 12mo., London,
1860. The French are equally silent. No
notice of the game is to be found in the long
and learned array of articles on the various
games of cards — and their name is legion —
in the extended Dictionnaire des Jeux of the
Encyclopedia Methodique ; and M. Van-Tenac,
in his Album des Jeux, 12mo., Paris, 1847

26 EUCHRE.

a recent and careful collection of modern
games of cards, seems entirely ignorant of
its existence,

We have just learned under date of Paris
December 8, 1861, from a distinguished
French savant, now engaged in collecting
materials for an elaborate and scientific trea-
tise on card-games, that Euchre is not of
French origin, and that the game is not no-
ticed by any French writer on games.

In this country the only teaching we have
of the game — except a few paragraphs in the
late American editions of Hoyle's Games,
and of Bohn's New Hand-Book of Games —
is contained in The Game of Euchre ; with its
Laws, 32mo., Philadelphia, 1850, pp. 32,
attributed to a late learned jurist — a our illus-
trious predecessor" — and to which little vol-
ume we hereby acknowledge ourselves greatly
indebted.

The name itself even — Euchre — is a mys-
tery. Although the game is generally sup-
posed, in this country, to be of German in-
vention, yet we are informed by the most

PRELIMINARY. 27

eminent linguist in Germany, Professor
Grimm, of the University of Berlin, that
Euchre is not a German word, and has no
sound of the language.

It has been facetiously suggested that it
might possibly be the German for Eureka !
denoting that the Queen game of cards has
at last been found ! But, as we do not pro-
fess to especial erudition in the Teutonic lin-
guistics, we venture no opinion of its philo-
logical deduction. Nor can we trace the least
analogy or affinity, as regards the promotion
of the Knaves into the rank of commanding
cards, when of the suit, or color, of the
trump, to any other card-game. In some
few particulars, however, it bears quite a
resemblance to the game of Ecarte. How
so animated and bright a game ever sprang
from the brain of a phlegmatic German is
somewhat marvellous — unless, it may have
been invented by that identical Baron, portly
and solid like the rest of them, who was
making the most terrible racket in his soli-
tary apartment, in Paris, one morning, jump-

28 EUCHRE.

ing over stools and slippers, and other u anti-
altitudinous" articles, and whose noted reply
to the agitated and expostulating gargon,
was, JTapprends a etre vxf. He may have sue*
eeeded in attaining the lively !

Whatever its origin, Euchre appears to
have been introduced into the United States
by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, and
from that State gradually to have been disse-
minated throughout every State of the Union.
But the original game has been so much
improved by the variations and additions
bestowed upon it in consequence of its great
popularity with all classes in this country,
that it may now fairly be denominated one of
our peculiar American institutions. A squat
ter, in the "Land of the West," would con
sicler his education sadly neglected, now-a
days, if a knowledge of this game was not
one of his attainments ; — it is as necessary to
his enjoyment of life as a stone-jug of
"Bourbon,7' with a corn-cob "cork" — the
11 democratic decanter," as they call it.

The word Bauer, the German for Jack, 01

PRELIMINAEY. 29

Knave, Americanized to Bower, is said to
be the only term used in the game which
has been adopted from the German.

Whist — and here let us pause with reve-
rence— "not that I loved Caesar less, but
that I loved Eome more" — Whist, we re-
sume, since Hoyle perfected its invention,
and published his treatise on the game, about
one hundred and twenty years ago, has been
universally acknowledged to be the noblest
game played with cards. As twenty more
cards are involved in its play than at Euchre,
and every one of them delivered in each
deal, the game is undoubtedly more exact
and mathematical. We fancy, however, that
it is this very absence of mathematical accu-
racy which is one of the peculiar merits of
our game ; for nearly one-third of the Euchre
pack is not distributed in the deal, but
remains in the talon; thus adding to the
variety and the chances of the play, and
affording exciting combinations for the exer-
cise of the shrewd player's judgment. But
we are free to confess that, in nearly a quar-

30 EUCHRE.

ter of a century's addiction to Euchre — viginti
annorum lucuhmtiones — we have never met a
fine player of both games who did not much
prefer our pet game.

"We repeat, then, that accomplished adepts
at both games — those social spirits who make
of play a delassement, and not a laborious
speculation — greatly prefer Euchre, because
of the more sprightly character of the game,
and its less mathematical exactness — giving
more scope to chance and judgment, and
affording a much keener enjoyment. And
then consider, that during the entire play of
all the thirteen tricks at Whist, the most
lugubrious silence, which is not our grand
talent, must prevail — for we can only " speak
by the card" — and, indeed, it has become an
axiom of that game, that whoever approxi-
mates nearest to being dumb may be deemed
the best player! At Euchre, on the con-
trary, every deal of five cards a- piece only —

" Oph. 'Tis brief, my Lord ;
Ham. As woman's love ;" —

is played out, dashingly, in a few minutes,

PRELIMINARY. 31

affording opportunities to discuss the general
topics of the day, for lively repartee and
anecdotes — those gems of conversation —
while the contrasts of chagrin and joy pre-
sented by unlooked-for defeat or success, so
often recurring in the various vicissitudes of
play, " serve to set the table on a roar."
Such a seance will frequently glide away so
delectably as to inoculate pale melancholy
with the bud of mirth.

In a transit of the Atlantic, or a voyage
to the Indies, which " drags its slow length
along" — especially when not sea-sick — Whist
naturally presents peculiar advantages to
those whose " only labor is to kill the time,
and labor dire it is," says the poet. But, if
one desires to amuse and tickle oneself —
•'when sailing o'er life's troubled main" — for
the limited period of eight or ten hours only,
in the pleasant occupation of disclosing the
mysterious combinations produced by thirty-
two cards — seasoned with cheerful conversa-
tion and innocent mirth the while, we com-
mend him to Euchre.

32 EUCHRE.

Euchre may be likened to that refined and
seductive beverage.. Champagne wine — spark-
ling and bright — while Whist more resem-
bles the potent, heady tipple, the Brown-stout
of its native England.

Of all sedentary amusements — except a
fourth class clerkship in the Treasury De-
partment— ice most '' affectionate"' Euchre.

But. repawns a .s. The game of

Euchre is played with thirty-two cards — the
six. five, four, tray, and deuce of each suit
having been withdrawn from a "Whist or
whole pack. The tray and deuce of spades
and diamonds, of the refuse cards, are ordi-
narily used for the purpose of counting the
game. Recently, however, packs are ex-
pressly manufactured for this game, (as well
as for Picquet and Ecar:£, also played with
the same number of cards.) by M. De la Rue,
the eminent publisher of playing cards in
London, and they may readily be obtained in
all of our larger cities.

The Knave of trumps, the Right-Bower as
it is termed, is the highest or be** trump ;

PRELIMINARY. 33

and the other Knave of the same color,
termed the Left Bower, is the next highest
card. The remaining cards, including the
Knaves of the black, suits when a red suit is
trump, and vice versa, have the same relative
value as at Whist.

It is usual to play with two packs, distin-
guished by backs of different colors, and the
pack selected by each party at the commence-
ment of a game, should not be changed dur-
ing the play of that game.

Various customs of play prevail in differ-
ent coteries and clubs, but the compiler has
endeavored to follow those customs which are
most in vogue, and are most consistent with
the spirit of the game, and the chances on
the cards.

There are, also, many varieties of the
game, with the denominations of Ace-Euchre,
Booster, Set-Back, Cut-Throat, and the like,
and Euchre may be played by any number of
persons, from two to six. But, the only game
worthy of the scientific player is that which is

played by four persons, who cut for partners,
2

34 BUCHBS.

as at Whist, and it is to them that this Trea-
tise is most affectionately dedicated.

"Let not cards, therefore, be depreciated;
a happy invention, which, adapted equally to
every capacity, removes the invidious dis-
tinctions of nature, bestows on fools the pre-
eminence of genius, or reduces wit or wisdom
to the level of folly." Henry's History of
Great Britain, vol. 12, p. 385.

Axiom. — If you are invited from home to
assist at a Euchre party, and the tempestuous
inclemency of the weather should be terrific,
if your wife does not object too much, — go.
Your failure "to be thar" may seriously in-
convenience your friends.

CHAPTER II.

MODE OF PLAYING.

"They know not when to play, where to play, noi
what to play. — Middleton.
a Who plays— who plays — who plays." — Old Play,
"How absolute the Knave is !" — Shakspeare.

The game of Euchre, which consists of five
points only, is played by four persons, who
cut for partners. It is the practice in some
circles for the players to determine among
themselves who shall be associated together
as partners, and then to throw round, one
card at a time to each player, for the first
Knave, which gives the deal to the player to
whom it is thrown ; but the more approved
method is to cut for partners, the two highest
becoming partners against the two lowest.
He who cuts the lowest card wins the deal ;
and, in cutting, the Ace is accounted the
lowest, and the Knaves rank as at Whist.

(35)

86 EUCHRE.

When the game is formed, and the players
seated at the table, partners opposite to each
other, so that each player is between his two
adversaries, the player who has won the deal
shuffles the pack and presents it to his right-
hand adversary to cut. The dealer then
places the cards lifted off by the cut at the
bottom of the pack and distributes twenty
cards, by giving five of them in two rounds,
of two and three, or by three and two, to
each player, beginning with his left-hand ad-
versary, and then turns up the twenty -first
card, which he places on the top of the talon,
for the trump.

The remaining cards of the pack, called the
talon, or stock, he places on the table to his
right. The deal passes in rotation as long as
the parties continue to play.

The dealer's left-hand adversary, who is
termed the eldest-hand, then examines the
cards dealt to him, and if he is of opinion
that he can win three of the five tricks at
the suit turned up for trumps, he says, "I
order it up," and the card turned up by the

MODE OF PLAYING. 37

dealer then becomes the trump. But, if he
thinks he cannot win three of the tricks, he
simply says, " I pass."

If he passes, the dealer's partner then ex-
amines his cards, and if he believes that him<
self and partner can win three tricks at the
suit turned up, he says, "I will assist," and
the turn-up card then also indicates the trump
suit. But if he believes that himself and
partner cannot win three tricks, he also says,
"I pass." The third player, after looking
at his cards, for the same reason that influ-
enced his partner, either says, a I order it up,"
or, "I pass."

If all the players have passed, the dealer
then examines his hand, and if he is confident
of winning three tricks by playing with his
partner, he says, " I take it up." He then dis-
cards the card of lowest value in his hand,
and places it, face downwards, under the talon,
and the turn-up card belongs to him in lieu
of the one discarded. The dealer is always
entitled to discard one card and take the turn-
up, or trump card, into his hand, whether it

88 EUCHRE.

is ordered up by his antagonists, or lie is as-
sisted by his partner, or takes it up himself.
Should the dealer be doubtful of winning
three tricks at the suit turned for trump, he
says, "I turn it down," and immediately
places the turn-up card, face down, on the
talon.

If all the players, including the dealer, de-
cline to play at the suit turned up, the eldest-
hand then has the privilege of making a
trump, and, should his hand be sufficiently
strong to win three tricks, he says, " I make

it ," naming the suit he prefers, which

then becomes the trump suit. If his cards
are not strong enough to win three tricks, he
says, " I pass the making." The second and
third player in rotation, have the same privi-
lege of naming a trump suit, and, after them,
the dealer. But, if all the players, including
the dealer, pass the making, the deal is for-
feited, and belongs to the last dealer's left-
hand adversary, who immediately gathers the
cards for dealing.

But, when the deal is completed, if the

MODE OF PLAYING. 39

eldest-hand, on first looking at his cards, be-
lieves that his hand is strong enough to win
three tricks if the suit turned up is trumps, he
orders it up, which makes that the trump suit,
and it must be played accordingly. The
dealer then discards, and the play commences.
The eldest-hand opens the game by leading in
any suit he chooses, and all the other players
follow to it, in regular order; and whoever
plays the highest card wins the trick, which
entitles him to the next lead. A player must
always play a card of the suit led, if he holds
one, on penalty of giving his adversaries two
points for the revoke. But, if he has no card
of the suit led, he can trump or not at his
option. The player who has won the first
trick then leads, and the play continues, in
like manner, until the five cards in each hand
are all played out. The trump, as at all other
games, is the commanding suit, the lowest
trump winning the highest cards of either of
the other three suits.

If the eldest-hand passed and the dealer's
partner assisted, or if the dealer's partner

40 EUCHBE.

passed and the partner of the eldest-hand
ordered it up, or if the latter having passed,
the dealer takes up the trump, the mode of
play is the same.

If the player, who orders it up, and his
partner, win three of the five tricks — the odd
trick, as it is termed — they score one point to
the game. K they win four of the five tricks
they are also entitled to count one point only.
But if they gain all five of the tricks, w^
is termed making a march, they score two
points towards game.

But if a trump is ordered up, or is taken
up : or, if a trump is made by either player,
and such player and his partner fail to win
::::ir :r::ks. ::tt are Euch?.ii\ as i: :s tern:-::.
which entitles their antagonists to add two
points to the score of their game. And
if one party win all five tricks when their op-
ponents adopt or make a trump, which will
rarely occur, except when the trump-car
ordered up for the Bridge, — explained infra, —
the winning party are only entitled to c
for the Euchre, which is two points.

MODE OF PLAYING. 41

The eldest-hand, in leading, should placo
his card on the table immediately before him,
and each player, in rotation, should observe
the same method — a practice which prevents
any misunderstanding about the ownership of
cards ; and, as no player has a right to ask
who played any particular card, this practice
also serves to designate each player's card by
its position on the board.

The tricks belonging to either party may
be turned and collected by the player who
wins the first trick, on either side ; but the
^ better mode is to agree, at the commencement
of the game, that one of the partners of op-
posite sides shall gather all the tricks won by
himself and partner, and shall also keep the
score of the game.

The five points constituting game are
counted with the tray and deuce of the refuse
cards, termed counters, which are placed at
two diagonal corners of the table, and in
such a manner as always to be in view, for
no player should ask how the score of the

42 EUCHRE.

game stands, or call his partner's attention
to it.

The game is scored by placing the tray of
the two counters, crosswise, with the face
down, upon one half the face of the deuce,
leaving only one of its pips exposed, for one
point. To count two, the deuce is with-
drawn from beneath the tray, upon which it
is placed back to back. For three, both cards
are turned over, exposing the face of the
tray. Four is counted by removing the
deuce from below the tray, and replacing it,
lengthwise, half covered, with the face up.
This arrangement of the position of the
counters should always be adopted, for then
no mistake in the count can occur — except,
only, at the score of one — should the count-
ers by accident be displaced on the table.

The number of games won by each party
may be reckoned with an ordinary four-
bladed penknife, in this manner: a blade
one-quarter open for one game; half open
tor two games ; three-quarters open for three
games; fully opened, for four games. The

MODE OF PLAYING. 43

second blade can reckon four more games,
which will be eight — when you count them —
and the entire four blades open will reckon
as many as sixteen games. "Cut and come
again." The knife may then be closed, if the
players are lucky or skillful enough to con-
tinue its use; and sixteen more, or forty-
eight, or ad infinitum games may be reckoned
on it. If this simple practice will not suit
the fastidious, we will con-nive at any other
method.

The mode of playing is, at times, varied
by one of the players announcing that he
will Play Alone — a variation of such great
interest and amusement — and peculiar, in
many respects, to this game — that we respect
fully beg leave to be permitted to treat the
modus operandi somewhat at length in the
ensuing Chapter.

CHAPTER III.

ON PLAYING ALONE.

" Solitary and alone I set this ball in motion."

Benton*

" There's a game much in fashion— I think it's called

Euchre,
(Though I never have played it, for pleasure or

lucre,)
In which when the cards are in certain conditions,
The players appear to have changed their positions,.
And one of them cries in a confident tone,
*I think I may venture to go it alone.1 M — Saxe.
" Alone I did it." — Shakspeare.

It occurs quite often during an evening
passed in social intercourse at Euchre, that a
player has dealt to him five cards of such su-
perior value that he is quite confident of win-
ning all the five tricks without playing with
his partner, and in such case he announces
that he will Play Alone. The proper time to
(44)

PLAYING ALONE. 45

declare this intention is when it is the turn of
the player who holds the lone hand, as it is
termed, either to order up the trump, or assist ;
or, if the dealer, when he takes up the trump
and before he discards ; or, when the player,
or his partner, makes the trump. In each
case the player makes known his intention by
saying, distinctly and unequivocally, "I Play
Alone." His partner then places the cards
dealt to him, faces down on the table imme-
diately before him, and is not permitted to
make any remark in relation to the value of
the cards which he had in his hand, during
the play of the five tricks.

The eldest-hand leads. The eldest-hand is
always entitled to the lead, except when his
partner Plays Alone, and then the lead is trans-
ferred to the dealer's partner, for the partner
of the player playing alone is always hors
de combat during the play of that hand.

If the player who Plays Alone, wins all
five of the tricks from his antagonists, he is
entitled to score four points to his game. But
if he only makes four or three of the tricks,

46 EUCHRE.

he can count but one point. Should he fail
to win three tricks, however, he is Euchred,
which, when playing alone, counts his antago-
nists the same number of points that he would
have gained if successful in winning all the
tricks, namely, four points.

In playing the game on the Mississppi
river, if the player who Plays Alone is
Euchred, the steamer is stopped at the first
landing and the unlucky player is put ashore.
In the State of Arkansas he is carried out to
be hung to the first adjacent tree, without
benefit of clergy. But in a more refined and
better established order of civilization, a
hearty laugh against him is the only penalty
he has to endure for the misplaced confidence
on the cards — except those four points to the
game of his opponents.

It is customary in some coteries to count
but two points when the adverse party Euchre
the player who Plays Alone, and as part and
parcel of the same usage either of his antago-
nists holding high cards in the trump suit,
may also Play Alone against him. In such

PLAYING ALONE. 47

a case, each player plays without his partner,
and he who wins the odd trick, is entitled to
score the four points. But this practice, and
quite deservedly, receives but little favor, as
the approved mode of play achieves the same
result.

There is also another improper custom, ad-
hered to by a few players only, which trans-
fers to the player who announces a lone hand,
the right to lead, without any regard what-
ever to the position he holds to the dealer, or
indeed, if it should be the dealer himself who
"Plays Alone. But this practice is too much at
variance with the spirit of the game to be
tolerated by experienced players.

If the dealer's partner assists, or makes a
trump, the dealer has the privilege of Playing
Alone, and if the eldest-hand orders up the
trump, or makes a trump, his partner may, in
like manner, Play Alone.

It occasionally happens that each one of
two partners may hold a lone hand, and in
that event the right of Playing Alone belongs
to the partner whose turn to play is last. For

48 EUCHRE.

example: A and C are partners opposed to B
and D. A deals and gives each of his oppo-
nents a lone hand. B; who is the eldest-hand,
orders up the trump card, and announces that
he will Play Alone. D, his partner, has the
right to take the privilege of Playing Alone
from him. But in this case, the partner D is
compelled to Play Alone, and the player B,
who first announced a lone hand, cannot play,
lot withstanding that he would have a great
advantage, being entitled to the lead. If this
rule did not prevail, an unfair player, wishing
to intimate the strength of his own hand to
his partner, might say that he would Play
Alone, after his partner had announced his
intention to do so, and then decline to Play
Alone, which would convey to his partner the
information that he, also, had a strong hand
at trumps, and, in that way, give him a great
and an improper advantage. Until this rule
was established, the compiler had often wit-
nessed partners, both holding lone hands,
bickering with each other before they could
agree as to which one should have the privi

PLAYING ALONE. 49

lege of Playing Alone, which, of course, as
developing their hands to each other, was en-
tirely unfair.

Should the eldest-hand, holding very strong
cards at the suit turned up for trumps, and
being also strong at next in suit, pass — which,
by the way, is always done in order to Euchre
the adverse party in case they take up the
trump — and his partner also holds a strong-
hand of the trump suit, and, in his turn,
orders it up, the eldest-hand, having once
passed the trump, cannot then Play Alone,
but must take the chances with his partner to
win a march. A player, having once passed
the trump, or passed the making, cannot Play
Alone, when his partner orders up, or makes
a trump. We have known it asserted that when
the eldest-hand — being strong in trumps and
also at next in suit — passes, and his partner,
when in turn, orders up, that the eldest-hand
may then re-enter and be permitted to Play
Alone. But this practice is clearly too unfair
to be entertained, and we most unqualifiedly

denounce it as entirely incompatible with
3

50 EUCHRE.

the principles of play and the spirit of the
game.

Four high trumps and an Ace of a lay suit
constitute a good lone hand. Three high
trumps, with an Ace and the seven even of the
same suit, is often a winning lone hand. A
sequence of the Left-Bower, Ace, and King
of trumps, and commanding lay cards, is
always a good lone hand, because, if the
Eight-Bower is out against it, one point only
could be made if both partners played to-
gether ; and, if it is not out, the player, who
Plays Alone, has a fair chance to win all the
tricks. In Playing Alone, the eldest-hand,
being entitled to the lead, may Play Alone
with a less strong hand, than either of the
other players ; and, he may sometimes, when
cards are running favorably for him and
unfavorably to his opponents, win all the
five tricks when holding only the Eight-
Bower and a small trump, with commanding
cards in one or more suits.

But although the Eight-Bower and a small
trump — the seven even— supported with com-

PLAYING ALONE. 51

loanding cards in lay suits, frequently make a
winning lone hand, yet it would not be recom-
mended to the tyro to play so bold a game.
Players of experience are at times indulged
with a presentiment as they call it, foretelling
that so small a lone hand will win, but such
prescience is more the result of observation
than luck.

In Playing Alone, whether the trump is
adopted or made, the lead is always a deci-
ded advantage,. "Put that in your pipe, and
smoke it. "

The dealer, being the last player to the
first trick, may also venture to Play Alone
on a less strong hand than either of the other
players, except the eldest-hand.

" There is a tide in the affairs of men, "
which is often " taken at the flood " by ac-
complished players, who will then hazard a
lone hand with comparatively small cards.
Suppose the dealer " at the flood, " and he
Plays Alone with the Eight-Bower, King
and nine of trumps, with an Ace, and a Queen
— or inferior card even — of different lay

52 EUCHRE.

suits. In this case, after he has won the first
two tricks with trumps, it is smart play to
lead the Ace of the lay suit, especially if the
adversaries' trumps are exhausted, for the
opponents supposing he would naturally hold
another card of the same suit as the Ace led
for the third trick, would retain a card of
that suit, if a medium one only, and throw
away a King, or an Ace even, of a different
suit, when the last trump was led for the
fourth trick, and the Queen, or lower card,
by such play, frequently wins.

When the dealer, having only three trumps,
is discarding to Play Alone, it is much safer
to put out even so high a card as the King
of a lay suit, being the only card he has of
the suit, and retain an inferior card, should it
be so low as the seven, of a suit of which he
holds the Ace; for, after winning three tricks
in trumps, the chances that the Ace of the
lay suit, when led, will exhaust the cards in
that suit and enable the seven to win the last
trick, are decidedly more in his favor than
that the Kino- would win on the first lead oi

PLAYING ALONE. 53

the suit if he had retained it. For the same
reason, three commanding trumps with an
Ace and seven of a lay suit, is considered a
better lone hand than four trumps with a
King of a lay suit. But, although a player
may frequently hazard to Play Alone on a
moderately strong hand, when a gentle course
of luck comes wooingly to him, yet he must
remember that like another too well known
course, it " never did run smooth. n Instance
a sad example : The dealer, having comple-
ted the distribution of the cards, turns up the
Ace of spades for the trump. The eldest-
hand, examining his cards, finds he holds the
Eight-Bower and seven of spades, and the
seven, eight, and nine of clubs, and passes —
as he should with that hand at any stage of
the game. The other two players also pass,
and the dealer having in hand the Left-Bower
and King of spades, with the Ace and ten of
hearts, and the Ace of diamonds — a captiva-
ting hand — announces that he will Play
Alone, and discards the ten of hearts — his
own heart brimful of hope. The eldest-hand

54 EUCHRE,

leads either of the small clubs which his
partner, holding but one, follows, and the
dealer wins with the Ace of trumps. He
then leads the Left-Bower, which the eldest-
hand wins with the Right-Bower, and leads
another club, which forces the dealer to play
the King of trumps. The seven of trumps
will then win either Ace that is led, and the
third club winning the remaining Ace, the
very strong lone hand is absolutely Euchred.

In Playing Alone and winning, the card
of lowest value should always be the last
card led, because when the adversaries are
throwing away on the preceding leads the
chances of losing that inferior card are
diminished.

When playing against a lone hand a part-
ner throws away high cards of one suit, it is
to be presumed that he holds commanding
cards in some other suit, and his partner
should therefore retain his highest card in
the suit his partner throws away, when he
has one, in preference to any, not a command
ing card, of a different suit.

PLAYING ALONE. 55

When a suit is trumped by the player who
Plays Alone, of course his opponents will
throw away all the cards they hold of that
suit to the lone player's winning cards, when
their trumps are exhausted.

Should a player lose the first or the second
trick, Playing Alone, he must then play cau-
tiously, and only endeavor to win the majo-
rity of the tricks ; for, having lost the chance
of winning the five tricks, he must play to
prevent being Euchred. More especially
must he play with caution, if, after losing the
first or second trick, he holds the tenace, for
then, after he has taken one trick, he is cer-
tain, if he plays right, of making the point.

There is a peculiar practice of play, that
takes place at a certain state of the score, to
which we solicit especial attention. This
state of the game is termed a Bridge. It is
introduced at the close of this Chapter, for
want of a more suitable spot to locate it, and
We beg the gentle reader to give it a sort of
retrospective effect by placing it supra — a
little higher up the creek — and let it span

56 EUCHRE.

the space intervening between CI apters II.
and III

The Bridge, in Euchre, — not & pons asino-
rum, — occurs when one party are scoring
four points, and their opponents, having the
deal, are scoring one or two points only. It
is then always the duty of the eldest-hand to
order up the trump, to prevent the dealer, or
his partner, from Playing Alone — unless, the
eldest-hand is sure of winning one trick.
He is sure of a trick, of course, if he holds
the Eight-Bower, — or the Left-Bower with
another trump, the Left-Bower guarded, as
it is termed. At this state of the game he
orders up the trump — when not certain of one
trick — preferring to be Euchred, and lose two
points only, to giving the dealer, or his
partner, the chance of making with a lone
hand, and winning the game. This practice
must be rigidly observed by the eldest-hand,
for the advantages of the deal are so great,
that the deal is deemed equivalent to a
point; so, when the eldest-hand is Euchred
where he has ordered up at the Bridge, his

PLAYING ALONE. 57

chances for winning the game are still deci-
dedly in his favor. The poorer his hand,
the stronger the reason for ordering up.
Four to one, or two, is always a Bridge —
four to nothing is not.

But, if the eldest hand is sure of winning
one trick he may pass, if he chooses, and this
is a fair signal to his partner — like the Blue
Peter, at Whist— who, if strong in trumps,
will know that the eldest-hand has also one
or two, if not more, commanding trumps,
and he will then order up for the purpose of
winning the point, and game.

Three to one, and two to nothing, are
sometimes considered a Bridge, especially if
the dealer turns up a Bower, or other high
card ; but the tyro would not be advised to
take such liberties. Older players, who have
acquired a tact in doing such things — by long
observation and play, and attention to the
run of the cards — may frequently succeed in
such experiments.

If either one of the dealer's opponents calls
the attention of his partner to the state of the

58 EUCHRE.

game, at a Bridge — or gives any intimation of
the fact — the dealer, or his partner, may then
Play Alone, or permit the opponents to order
up, at their option. Attention to the Bridge
is the office of the eldest-hand alone — and as
it is a free institution he cannot be tolled.

CHAPTER IV.

LAP, SLAM, JAMB0NE, AND JAMBOREE.

44 Ambiguitas Verborum latens Verificatione sup-
pletur." — Bacon's Maxims,

" Once more I will renew
His lapsed powers."— Milton.

The addition of the Lap, Slam, and Jam-
bone, to the game of Euchre is comparatively
a modern institution, and is esteemed by com-
petent judges— " the choice and master spirits
of this age" — as one of the grand inventions
of the present refined state of society — a re-
sult of the advanced condition of civilization.
We have indeed encountered some few play-
ers, but of indifferent skill, who decline to
sanction this pleasing variation of the game,
and persistently insist in their opposition to
the Lap — which is counting all the points won
over five to the next game — declaring that

(59)

60 EUCHRE.

you might as well score all the points won
over the number constituting the game at
Whist, or at any other game of cards ; and
adhere most rigidly to the ffixed fact that one
game is only one game, no matter how many
points are won above the number of which it
consists. This is very good logic when ap-
plied to most games, but it is inapplicable to
ours; and this opposition to the Lap consti-
tutes the principal objection to the Jambone.
But this very practice thus objected to, we
affectionately cherish as one of the most inter-
esting features of our pet game. Alas foi
difference in taste ! So many men, so many
minds — autani de tetes, aidant cV opinions, as
we say at Paris, with a haussement oT epaules
We heard it once alleged that people do
exist who even object to play cards ! " Tel]
it not in Gath." And then this variation of
the old mode of playing the game of Euchre
adds so immensely to the amusement of the
play — the purpose, we opine, for which the
game was invented — and has such a cheering
influence on a despondent player's downcast

LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 61

heart, to whom ill-luck has been obstinately
running, by giving him the hope — " gay hope
by fancy fed" — that if fortune — " the hood-'
wink'd goddess"— will once again smile upon
him he may be enabled, by a few brilliant
coups, to retrieve his sad reverses. And our
game is, in truth, so essentially variant in
many points of play from all other games,
that this objection to the Lap, Slam, and Jam-
bone, cannot be fairly urged against it, and
this mode of play is as fair for one party as
the other. u So what's the Aodds, as long as
we're 'appy." We confess to never yet having
encountered a first-class player who did not
pronounce the Lap an eminently pleasing ad-
dition to the game.

Permit us to instance a case, more clearly
to illustrate our meaning. Suppose a player,
ardent as ecclesiastical zeal, at the score of
four — though not four score, for the zeal's
sake — perceives, on examination of the cards
dealt to him, that he holds a sure lone hand,
and all the other players pass to him. If he
is to be deprived of the privilege of playing

62 EUCHRE.

that hand Alone, and of counting the four
points which he wins, as he most assuredly
would be were he not allowed to Lap the
superfluous three points to the next game
such deprivation would cause him to be de
pressed in spirits for a week — as wretched a
youth as if he had been entangled in the
meshes of the tender passion and suffered dis.
appointment. " These little things are great
to little men."

But, as an agreeable man is one who
agrees, and who delights to obviate difficul-
ties, it would be advisable before sitting down
to play with persons who have never pre-
viously " entered the lists" together, for one
player to make himself agreeable by inquir-
ing if this manner of playing the game is to
be adopted; and, if the proposition gives
rise to any difference of opinion affecting the
merits, we most sincerely hope that its ex-
pression may not prove to be so tedious to
either party as this preamble of ours.

The Lap then is simply counting upon the
score of the ensuing game all the points made

LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 63

over and above the five, of which the game
consists. For example : if one party, having
scored four points towards game, should
Euchre their opponents, or should win all
five tricks, either of which events entitles
them to two points, they therefore not only
win that game, but are permitted to score the
superfluous point as one in the next game.
Oi, if a player, at the score of four, Plays
Alone and wins the five tricks, he counts the
three points over to the next game.

Slam, or Love-game, is a term common to
many games of cards, and implies that, when
a party win the game, before their oppo-
nents have made one point, that game is
deemed to be a double-game, and must be
reckoned as two games. Suppose a player,
at the score of four, and his opponents are
counting nothing, and he Plays Alone and
wins the five tricks, which counts his side
four additional points— eight in all — he wins
that game, which reckons as two games, and
he is permitted to transfer the extra three —
by means of the Lap — to the next game, and

64 EUCHRE.

feels that he has accomplished a good thing,
" Alone I did it." We can trace no analogy
between the terms Slam, and Love-game,
which have the identical signification, how-
ever, at cards, without indecorously alluding
to our own, and neighbors' street doors, and
agitated exits; and so, prudently refrain.
Verbum sat.

Jambone is a euphonic term, of difficult
etymology. But — "What's in a name?"
Whatever its derivation may have been, how
ever, it is now only used to express the inten
tion of a player to Play Alone, with his
cards exposed on the table. Thus, if a player,
on examining the cards distributed to him by
the dealer, finds that he holds cards of such
estimable worth that he is confident of win-
ning the five tricks, he announces, when his
turn, that he will play Jambone, and spreads
his cards out in a line before him, on the
table, with their faces turned up to view.
When the cards are exposed by the Jam-
bone player in this manner, the player enti-
tled to the lead commences the round, and

LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 65

has the right to call one of the cards so ex-
posed, to be played to the first trick, But
this right to call a card belongs only to that
adversary who has the right to lead, or to
play first, for if the partner of that adversary
gives any intimation to his associate which
would enable the two together to win the
first trick, they thereby forfeit their right to
the call, and the Jambone player may then
play whichever card he chooses to the first
trick. If the Jambone player is successful in
gaining the* whole five tricks, — under this
disadvantage of showing the opponents his
cards, and of giving the elder in hand the
right to name one of the cards so exposed to
be played on the first trick, — he is entitled to
count eight points.

Jambone may be played by any player
under the same restrictions which regulate
Playing Alone.

If the adverse party order up, or make the
trump, a player holding a Jambone hand can-
not be permitted to play it as such, and he must
be content simply to win a Euchre with it.
4

66 EUCHRE.

If the Jambone player is entitled to the
lead, then his 1^-hand adversary has the right
to call one of the exposed cards as the lead.

If the first trick under these circumstances
is won by the Jambone player, the play pro-
ceeds in the usual course ; and if the Jambone
player then wins only the majority of the five
tricks, he scores but one point towards game,
as in Playing Alone.

The opponent, entitled to call, has the
right to call but one card only, and that
card to the first trick played, and the Jam-
bone player is entitled to play his other four
cards according to his own judgment.

If the eldest-hand, opposed to the dealer
playing the Jambone, leads a suit which the
Jambone player can trump, and calls, on
leading, the smallest trump in the open hand,
if his partner can also trump the suit with a
higher trump they of course win that trick,
for the Jambone player is compelled to play
the card called, when not inconsistent with
the system of play. But let us illustrate this
point. Suppose the dealer plays a Jambone

LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 67

hand, and clubs are trumps, and in the open
hand he shows the Bowers, Ace, and ten of
trumps, with the Ace of hearts. The eldest-
hand has three diamonds, with no trump,
and leads one of them, hoping, as he has so
many, his partner may be able to trump it
also, and calls the ten of trumps from the
Jambone hand. His partner having the
Queen of trumps, with no diamond, wins the
trick. The Jambone player would not have
the option, in this case, after the Queen w^as
played, to throw away his Ace of hearts, in
lieu of the ten of trumps, but must always
play the called card.

Should the Jambone player fail to win
three tricks, it is not yet known what mea-
sure of corporal punishment ought to bo
inflicted upon him, but his adversaries, at all
events, would be entitled to count eight
points.

The dealer, possessing the right to dis-
card, or, in other words, having six cards
with the privilege of putting out one of them,
more often holds a Jambone hand than either

68 EUCHRE.

of the other players. He is never compelled
to use, or take in, the card turned up for
trump, if he should be so fortunate as not to
require it, for then the turn up card only
serves to indicate the trump suit, and he may
decline to discard. The player calling the
card to the first trick should call it at the
moment he leads, or if the lead /belongs to
the Jambone player, his opponent entitled to
the call must call before he plays, for if the
opponent's partner plays his card before the
player who has the right to call has called,
the right to the call becomes forfeited, and
the Jambone player may then play any card
he chooses to the first trick.

A few examples of the play, by way of
illustration, may define our positions more
clearly. Suppose, then, the dealer, conclu-
ding the deal, turns up the Ace of spades.
The other players pass, or his partner may
assist, and, examining his cards, he is delight-
ed to behold the two black Bowers, with the
Queen and ten of trumps, and a card of a lay
suit. He immediately announces the Jam

LAP; SLAM, AND JAMB0NE. 69

bone, discarding the lay card. He then turns
up his cards on the table, in a line before
him, and is confident of success — naturally,
as the chances in favor of the King of trumps
not being out against him are so mighty mul-
titudinous that it would be quite unnecessary
to enter into a calculation of them — even if
he could. But the fickle goddess, bless her
heart! does not invariably bestow all her
favors on one individual — we love to say it —
for the eldest-hand does, curiously enough,—
oh, the capriciousness of luck! — hold the
identical King of trumps. He leads that
King, of course, with a smile of gratitude,
announcing in a winning manner — bland as
the breath of spring — that he calls the Queen,
which the dealer is compelled to play to the
King after the eldest-hand's partner has fol-
lowed to the lead, and the Jambone player
loses that trick. Although he wins the other
four tricks, he is only entitled to count one
point, as previously stated. If the dealer had
played that hand alone, simply, of course he
would have won everv trick, and secured

70 EUCHKE.

four points; but the chances of winning all
eight points were so seductive that it was
impossible not to make the hazard; for,
nothing venture, nothing gain, is, pre-emi-
nently, a maxim of Euchre. Had the eldest-
hand not been the lucky holder of the King,
but had held, in lieu of his majesty, an indif-
ferent trump, or, in fact, any trump, it then
would have been his imperative duty to have
led it, calling the Queen or the ten, in the
faint hope that his partner might possibly
hold the King — which gave them the only
chance of preventing the Jambone hand from
making. Such chances must never be dis-
regarded.

If the dealer plays Jambone with a quart
or sequence of four trumps from the Left-
Bower, and an Ace of a lay suit, (which he
should invariably do, because, if the Eight-
Bower is out against him he could only win
one point if he Played Alone,) the eldest-hand
should lead a card if he holds one of the same
suit as the dealer's lay Ace, in the hope that
his partner might be able to trump it. The

LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 71

eldest-hand could not play a lay card of a dif-
ferent suit and call tlie Ace of the lay suit to
be played to it, because that would be at va
riance with the spirit of the game. No player
having the right to call a card from the Jam-
bone player's hand, can require him to throw
away a commanding card of a lay suit to a
lead of a different suit, but in that case can
only call his lowest trump.

If the cards should be cut in such a manner
that the dealer turns up a Bower, say the
Knave of spades — " the most unkindest cut of
all," — and he deals to himself the Left-Bower
and nine of trumps, with the Ace of each of
the three lay suits, he may discard his nine
of trumps and play Jambone. He discards
this small trump because the chances are much
more favorable that either one of the three
Aces will win the first trick, when called by
the eldest-hand, than that his nine of trumps
will make. It would not be prudent to play
this hand Jambone, if the player holding it was
the eldest-hand, because the player next in
play to him might be able to trump one of

72 EUCHRE.

the three Aces, and he would therefore call
it, and in that way win the first trick. But
when the suit is led to the Jambone player,
the chances of the second player not being
able to trump are greatly in favor of the Jam-
bone player, who would then win the trick,
and would probably exhaust the trumps with
his two Bowers, and clear the way for the
other two Aces.

Although the foregoing hand would gene-
rally win, yet it might be quite easily Euchred.
Par example : Suppose the eldest-hand holds
the ten of trumps, three small hearts, and a
small diamond. His partner has the seven
and eight of trumps, and three small clubs.
The eldest-hand leads a small heart, — because,
having three of them, his partner would be
more likely not to have any — and calls the
Ace. His partner not holding a heart, trumps
with the seven, and wins the trick. He then
leads a club, on which the dealer puts his
Ace, and the eldest-hand wins with the ten of
trumps, making the second trick. The eldest-
hand then leads his small diamond, which his

LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 73

partner wins with the other small trump, and
the dealer's two Bowers are left " blooming-
alone:" while his antagonists proceed content-
edly to score eight points for their successful
play. " They laugh that win," if we remem-
ber rightly.

Once more. Suppose the dealer is assisted
by his partner, and, looking at his hand, finds
that he holds the two Bowers, with the seven
and eight of trumps, a lay Ace, with another
small card. He may discard and venture the
Jambone on this rather indifferent hand — if
the score of the game invites it, though it
would, ordinarily, be better to Play Alone,
simply,— for, if the eldest-hand has no trump
to lead and to call the seven or eight, the
dealer is almost sure of winning. Eemember,
there are only nine trumps — eight of the suit,
with the Knave of the same color — in this fa-
vorite game of burs. The dealer, in this case,
sees four of them in his own hand, and he is
certain that his partner has at least two more,
which accounts for six of the trumps. As
there are ten cards in the hands of the two

74 EUCHRE.

opponents, and eleven more in the talon, the
chances are very much in favor of the eldest-
hand being without a trump. We could cipher
it oat for you, but it is scarcely necessary.

Jamboree is another musical sound of
unknown etymological deduction, rarely an-
nounced, however — " breathe not his name" —
and signifies the combination of the five high-
est cards, namely, the two Bowers, Ace, King,
and Queen of trumps, in one hand, which be-
stows on the player— fortuna juvante — who
holds this galaxy of cards, the pleasing priv-
ilege of counting sixteen points. It requires
but little to be said of this rare constellation
of the " painted tablets," for a player will not
have dealt to him the Jamboree more than
two or three times in the course of a quarter
of a century's addiction to the game.

The player holding Jamboree simply an-
nounces the fact, and displays the cards ; for
no play, of course, is necessary. But the
player must announce the Jamboree ; for if, by
mistake, he should announce the Jambone, and
commence to play the hand as such, when in

LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 75

fact he holds the Jamboree, he is only entitled
to score what he announces, and to count
eight points. The mistake of one party is the
game of the other.

In counting the Lap, and the Slam, it is to
be remembered that all the points made above
five go to the score of the next ensuing game ;
and, if those points extend to so many as ten
— as in the case of a party scoring two points,
and winning with the Jambone, making eight
points more — the second five points, from six
to ten inclusive, must be a Slam, which counts
two games — making, in all, three games. If
a player is scoring four points and wins with
the Jambone, which, added to the four, makes
him twelve points, he counts three games, and
the supernumerary two lap into the fourth
game. If the adverse party were not scoring
one point, the first game would be a Slam, as
well as the second, which would then count
four games, with the two to the next game.
This, of course, is the highest number of
points that can be gained in one hand — ex-
cept with the Jamboree.

76 EUCHRE.

The Jamboree hand wins sixteen points,
which must, at least, count five games with
one point to lap over. If a player is scoring
four to his opponent's nothing, and announces
the Jamboree, the sixteen points then won
added to his four, make twenty points, which
make four games, each of them a Slam, which
entitles him to count, in all, eight games — the
highest figure attainable.

Jamboree, like Jambone, and Play ing Alone,
cannot be played, as such, if the adverse
party order up the trump, or m^ke it ; for in
that case it can only win the two points — as
when playing the Bridge — for the Euchre.

It will be perceived that our game is pe-
culiarly symmetrical in arrangement; and to
prevent any misunderstanding in scoring the
games, let us reiterate that the counts, in the
different variations of play, increase in geo-
metrical progression ; — and, when one party,
adopting or making the trump, win the odd
trick, they count only one point; in winning
all five tricks they count two points ; Playing
Alone and winning, four points; winning at

LAP, SLAM, AND JAMBONE. 77

Jambone, eiglit points ; with the Jamboree,
sixteen points. Should the party, adopting
or making the trump, fail to win the odd
trick in either of these variations of play,
they lose the same number of points which
they would have been entitled to count if they
had been successful in gaining the five tricks.

CHAPTEB V.

TECHNICALITIES.

" Verbnm verbo reddere Sdtts
Interpres. ' ' — Horace.
11 Words — words — words. ' ' — Wordsworth

Adopt the Trump. To play at the suit
turned up.

Assist. Is where the dealer's partner, be-
lieving that he can win the odd trick, at
least, agrees to play at the trump turned up.

Bower. Either Knave of the color of the
trump suit. " Will you come to the bower I
have shaded for you ?"

Bridge. Is where the opponents, having
the deal, are counting but one or two points
only towards game, and the other side are at
the score of four. It is then the duty of the
eldest-hand, if he has not one certain trick in
hand, to order up the trump card to prevent
(78)

TECHNICALITIES. 79

the dealer, or his partner, from Playing
Alone.

Call. Is the right to require an adversary
to play a card that has been improperly shown
or exposed.

Cards Away. To Play Alone.

Count. To reckon the game.

Counters. The deuce and tray, usually
of diamonds and spades, probably because
the pips of those two suits being more sharp
and angular are easily discerned.

Court-Cards. The Aces, Kings, Queens,
and Knaves, of each suit, as distinguished
from the numerical ones. Formerly called
coat-cards.

Cross the Suit. To make a l/ump of
different color from the card turned up for
the trump.

Cut. To separate the pack into two parts
before the player, whose right it m to deal,
distributes the cards.

Deal. To distribute to each } lay )v five
cards, face downwards, after the pa</k has
been shuffled and cut.

80 EUCHRE.

Dealer. He to whom belongs the privi-
lege of distributing the cards to the other
players.

Deck. Synonymous with Pack.

Discard. Putting out one card from the
dealer's hand, and replacing it with the card
turned up, when it has been adopted for the
trump.

Doubled. Two cards of the same suit.

Dutch It. The same as Next In Suit.

Eldest-Hand. The left-hand adversary
of the dealer.

Euchre. This term, which gives the game
its name, is used to denote the loss of a party,
adopting or making a trump, and who fail to
win a majority of the tricks. It also applies
to Lone and Jambone hands failing to win ;
the successful opponents counting four and
eight points respectively.

Paced Card. One with its face turned up,
so that it may be seen.

Finesse. Is where a third player holding
the best and the third best trump, plays the
latter, taking the risk that the last player does

TECHNICALITIES. 81

not hold the second best trump. If the last
player does not hold it; the third player by
this play wins the two tricks.

Follow Suit. To play a card of the suit led.

Foece. To lead a suit of which your oppo-
nents hold none, thus forcing them to trump
or lose the trick.

Fkesh Deal. When an accident occurs in
dealing, the dealer is entitled to deal anew.

Game, When two players, associated to-
gether as partners, make five points before
their adversaries.

Go Alone. The same as to Play Alone.

Guabded. Any two cards of suit.

Hand. The five cards given to each player
by the dealer.

Jambone. Is when a player holds such
high cards that he announces to play them,
without his partner, turned, faces up to view
on the table, and gives to that adversary who
is entitled to lead, or to play first, the privi-
lege of calling one of the cards so exposed to
the first trick played ; or, if the Jambone player
has the lead, to call a card from his open hand
5

m

82 EUCHRE.

to be played to. If he can then win all five
tricks he is entitled to count eight points.

Jamboree. Holding the five highest cards
at trumps, being the two Bowers, Ace, King,
and Queen, which the player having them
shows, as at Jambone, and is entitled to count
sixteen points.

Lap. To count all the points made over
five to the next game.

Lay Card. Any card not a trump.

Lay Suit. Either of the three suits when
not the trump.

Lead. The card first played by the eldest-
hand; afterwards the card led by him who
has won the preceding trick.

Left-Bower. The Knave of the same color
as the trump suit, which is the second best
trump.

Left-Bower Guarded. To hold the Left-
Bower, and any other trump, which will gene-
rally win one trick if properly played.

Lone Hand. A hand, so strong in trumps,
that it will probably win all five tricks if
Played Alone.

TECHNICALITIES. 83

Lone Player. One who plays without his
partner.

Love Game. Is when one party count five
before their adversaries have made one point.
Also, an innocent sedentary amusement be-
tween two young persons, of opposite sexes,
"by moonlight alone."

Make the Point. Is when the players,
who adopt or make the trump, win the odd
trick.

Make the Trump. To name any suit for
the trump after all the players have passed,
and the dealer has turned down the trump card.

March. Is when two partners playing to-
gether win all of the five tricks.

Mark the Game. To count.

Misdeal. An error in the distribution of
the five cards belonging to each player — or
when the right-hand opponent has not cut the
cards previous to their distribution — which
forfeits the right to the deal.

Next in Suit. The trump the same color
of the suit turned down — as if a diamond is
turned down and the trump is made a heart.

S4

Vviiirical C The -even to the ten,

both inclusive, as distinguished from the court-

Odd Trick. The third won of the five
tricks.

?.der it Up. To require the dealer and
partner to play at the suit turned up.

Pack. T„e Euchre paek k composed of
the thirty-two sards left in a Whisi or com-
plete pack. u::er all the sixes, fives, : ;
and deuces have been thrown c

Pass. To announce that the player de-

lea to play at the trump turned up. "He
as if he knew me not*" — a beautiful
ballad by Bayly.

Pass the Making. To decline to name
any suit for trump.

Pip. The spots on the numerical cards,
from the seven to the ten. Also, a malady
prevalent among adolescent chickens — a cure
for which will be furnished, gratis, to our sub-
urban subscribers, by application at the office.

Play Alone. To play a hand without the
partner.

TECHNICALITIES. 85

Point. One of the five numbers of which a
game consists.

Quakt. Four trumps in sequence.

Eentree. The right to the lead which be-
longs to the player who has won the last trick.

Eevoke. A Eevoke is when a player, who
holds a card of the suit led, plays, by mistake
or design, a card of a different suit.

Eight-Bower. The Knave of the trump
suit, which is the commanding trump.

Eound. The five tricks played in each
deal — and each trick is also termed the first,
second, third, fourth, and fifth round.

Euff. To trump a lay suit.

Score. The count, showing the state of
the game.

Sequence. The regular succession of three
or more cards in hand.

Shuffle. To mix the cards together be-
fore they are cut to be distributed to the
players.

Side Cards. The same as Lay Cards.

Slam. To win a game before the adverse
party count one point in it.

86 EUCHRE.

Spot. The same as Pip.

Stock. Synonymous with Talon.

Suit. The name given to each of the four
denominations, or orders, of the cards con-
tained in a pack — as the suit of diamonds,
hearts, spades, and clubs.

Take it Up. The dealer's announcement
that he intends to play at the suit turned up
for trumps.

Talon. The eleven cards remaining in the
pack after the dealer has distributed five to
each player, and turned up the twenty-first
card for the trump.

Tenace. Is when a player holds the high-
est and third best trumps and is the last player,
which insures to him those two tricks.

Throw Away. To play a card, not a trump,
of different suit to that led.

Tierce. A sequence of three trumps, as
the two Bowers and Ace, or the Ace, King,
Queen, et cceL

Trick. The five cards played by each
player, and won by the highest card played —
also called a Eound.

TECHNICALITIES. 87

Tkump. The suit adopted, or made, the
commanding suit.

Trump Card. The card turned up by the
dealer for the trump.

Turn-Down. The card shown, or turned
up, for trump, which the dealer turns, face
down, when all four players decline to play
at that suit.

Turn-Up. The card, in dealing, next to
the twentieth, or last card dealt, which is
turned, face up, on the talon for trump.

Underplaying. Is to follow suit with a
card of inferior value to the adversary's lead
when holding one that can win it.

CHAPTER VI.

LAWS.

"We have striot statutes, and most biting laws."

Shakspeare.
"Laws wise as nature, and as fix'd as fate.'' — Pope.

The Laws of Euchre should be carefully
studied by every player who desires to be-
come an accomplished adept in this fascinating
game. The laws, here compiled, are observed
and approved by the best players, and are
supposed to determine every case which may
occur in play. They should be enforced in
the strictest sense, on all occasions, never de-
viating from them in the slightest manner
yourself, and requiring your adversaries, with
proper courtesy, of course, also to respect
them; for, if a player is to be permitted to act
as he chooses — to indicate by signs or remarks
to his partner the character of the cards he
(88)

LAWS. 89

holds — or to play a card and take it back — or
other similar impropriety — you might as well
sit down to the table and play at Jack-Straws.
In some few instances the laws may appear
too rigid, but experience demonstrates to all
skillful players the absolute necessity of adhe-
ring undeviatingly to the provisions they are,
designed to enforce — the law in such case
made and provided — for the integrity of the
game must be strictly preserved. Dura lex,
sed lex. By a careful observance of the laws,
moreover, the unpleasant disputes and alter-
cations which so often interrupt and mar the
merriment of a card party, will be entirely
obviated.

Law I.

Each player must cut for the deal, the two
highest and the two lowest become partners,
and he who cuts the lowest card is entitled to
the deal. Should the lowest cards cut be of
similar value, it is a tie as respects them, and
those parties must cut again. If the person

90 EUCHRE.

cutting should show two cards instead of one,
he must be deemed to have cut the highest,
or if he let fall a card from the pack, face up,
that card must be considered his cut. Each
party cuts, and shows the bottom card of
those he has lifted from the pack. In cutting,
the cards rank as at Whist, the Ace being the
lowest.

Law II.

The cards must be shuffled by the dealer
and cut by his right-hand opponent. The
latter has also the privilege of shuffling them,
and if he does, the dealer, who is always enti-
tled to the last shuffle, may shuffle them anew
if he chooses. After the cards have been
cut for the deal, however, no one, except the
dealer, can touch the pack previous to dealing

Law III.

In cutting for the deal, three cards at least
must be lifted from the pack, and not fewer
than four must be left upon the table. The
dealer should never hold the pack in his hand,

LAWS, 91

when presenting it for the cut, but should
place it on the table near his right-hand ad
versary.

Law IV.

In dealing, five cards are distributed to
each player, either by three and two, or by
two and three, in two rounds ; but the dealer
must continue to follow whichever mode he
at first adopts, and should he depart from it,
either of the adverse parties may, before
looking at his cards, require a fresh deal.

Law V.

If a card is faced, or is turned in dealing
unless it is the twenty-first, or trump card,
the pack must be shuffled anew and a fresh
deal made ; but the dealer does not lose his
privilege. Should the dealer show more than
one card in turning up the trump card the
deal is likewise void, and he must deal anew

Law VI.

Should either of the dealer's opponents,

92 EUCHRE.

during the deal, expose a card to view, the
dealer may have a fresh deal, or not, at his
option, but he must decide before looking at
his own cards. If his partner exposes a card,
either of the adversaries, in like manner, may,
before the trump is turned up, require a new
deal.

Law VII.

No player is permitted to take up, or to
look at, his cards during the deal, and should
a misdeal ensue in consequence of such im-
propriety, the dealer does not lose his privi-
lege, and may deal anew. It must be consi
dered a misdeal, however, if his partner com
mits the fault.

Law VIII.

When too few or too many cards are dealt,
if the mistake can be rectified, and the pro-
per order of the distribution of the cards as-
certained, before the trump card is turned up,
the deal is valid ; but if the error is not dis-
covered until after the trump card is turned

LAWS. 93

up, the deal is forfeited, and passes to the next
player.

Law IX.

If the cards are dealt by a player who is
not entitled to the deal, and the error is dis-
covered before he looks at his cards, though
the trump card be turned, that deal is null,
and the cards must be restored to the player
entitled to the deal, even if the eldest-hand, or
either of the other players, adopts the trump.
If the dealer has discarded and the eldest-
hand has led, however, the mistake cannot be
corrected.

Law X.

If, in any deal, the pack is ascertained to
be imperfect, by containing too many, or too
few cards of the proper value in either
suit, that particular deal is void, but all the
games, or points, made in the preceding deals
with the same pack are valid; and the
deal in which the error is discovered is not
forfeited.

94 EUCHRE.

Law XI.

The trump card must be left in view on
the talon by the dealer, after discarding, until
it is his turn to play, when he may remove it
to his hand. After he has taken up the
trump card no player has a right to demand
what particular card was turned up, although
he may ask what is the trump suit.

Law XII.

Whenever a misdeal occurs the deal is for-
feited, and the opponent on the left of the
dealer becomes entitled to the deal.

Law XIII.

Each person, in playing, should place his
card on the table immediately before him, but
if this practice should not be pursued no
player has a right to ask who played a par-
ticular card, although he may require the
other players to draw their cards before them.

Law XIY.

If the eldest-hand leads before the dealer

LAWS. 95

has discarded, he cannot withdraw his card
and change his lead, nor can the dealer, at
any time before completing his discard, be
deprived of his right to Play Alone. The
discard is not completed until the dealer
places his card under the talon, or on the
table, and has quitted it; and when the
dealer has once quitted the discarded card he
cannot change it.

-"■o^

Law XV.

If a player leads, or plays, out of turn, he
may be compelled to withdraw his card, sub-
ject to the penalty of the call ; if it causes
an error in the play of any other party that
player may withdraw his card without pe-
nalty ; but, in the ease of an improper lead,
if four cards have been played before the
error is discovered the lead is good, and the
player winning the trick is entitled to the
next lead.

Law XVI.
Any card which is separated from those in

96 EUCHKE.

hand and has touched the table; is deemed to
have been played — even if the face be down-
ward— though if a card is played to a lead
of a suit different from the one led, it may be
taken up, subject to the call, and another of the
proper suit played. But if the player should
have none of the suit led, and plays a card
which he did not intend, he is not permitted
to take it up again after he has once quitted it.

Law XVII.

If a player plays two or more cards to a
trick instead of one, the adverse parties have
the right to compel him to play either one of
the cards they please, without regard to the
order in which they were played, and the
other card, or cards, shown may be called in
the subsequent tricks, like other exposed
cards.

Law XVIII.

No player is allowed to look at any of the
tricks during the play of a hand, after they
have been turned, except the last trick only.

LAWS. 97

Law XIX.

If any player plays with six or more cards,
or, if the dealer plays and omits to discard,
and fails to announce the fact before three
tricks have been turned, such player or dealer
cannot count the point, or points, made on
their side, in that hand, and they lose the
deal. But if the adverse party win under
such circumstances they are entitled to count
all they make.

Law XX.

If a player, designedly, or for any reason,
places his cards on the table, faces turned up,
he is not permitted to take them up again, and
his adversaries may call each card like other
exposed cards, — except at Jambone, when the
right to call is limited to the first trick. Thus
if a player, sure of winning, exhibits his
cards, his opponents can continue the play,
and have the right to call each card so ex-
posed. The penalty is the same if a player
believing he has lost shows his cards in a

similar way.
6

98 EUCHRE,

Law XXI.

Whenever a player, who is entitled to the
privilege of making the trump, once names a
suit, he cannot be permitted to change it, and
should he, by mistake, name the suit turned
down, it is equivalent to passing, and the right
to make the trump then belongs to his left-
hand opponent.

Law XXII.

A player intending to Play Alone must
announce his determination to play without
his partner in such an audible and distinct
expression that no doubt must exist of his in-
tention, for if his manner of announcing it is
ambiguous, and a legal lead is made, by him-
self or an adversary, he loses the privilege of
Playing Alone and must be compelled to play
with his partner.

Law XXIII.

Whenever a revoke occurs, whether from
inattention or design, the adverse parties are
entitled to add two points to their score.

LAWS. 99

Law XXIV.

The revoke is not completed until the trick
in which it has been made is turned and quit-
ted, and the player committing the revoke, or
his partner, has again played.

Law XXV.

If a player revoking perceives his error
previous to the turning or quitting of the
trick in which it has been made, he can with-
draw his card from the trick and follow the
suit led, but his left-hand antagonist may com-
pel him to play the highest or the lowest card
he holds of that suit ; or, if it seems more ad-
vantageous to his side, he may call the card
so exposed and taken back whenever it is the
offending player's turn to play, or lead, in a
subsequent trick.

Law XXVI.

If the partner of a player, who has made a
revoke, but has discovered it in time to cor-
rect it, has played to the trick, he is not
permitted to change the card he has played,

100 EUCHRE.

but the adversary who has played after the
revoke occurred may withdraw his card from
the trick without penalty, and play another,
if he thinks it may give him an advantage.

Law XXVII.

Should either of the adversaries mix the
cards together when a revoke is alleged against
them they incur the penalty of the revoke, and
the players claiming it are entitled to score
the two points.

Law XXVIII.

When the cards have been cut for a new
deal, no party is entitled to claim the penalty
of a revoke ; and, in case of a reciprocal re-
voke in one hand, one error offsets the other
and a fresh deal must be had.

Law XXIX.

If a player shows, or exposes, one or more
of his cards, intentionally or by accident, the
card or cards so shown may be called by an
opponent, either as a lead, when the offending

LAWS. 101

player's turn to lead, or to the exposed card's
suit when led. A card is shown if it is pur-
posely, or accidentally exposed, and either of
the opposite players can distinguish its char-
acter, and name it. And a card may be called
if the holder names or indicates that it is in
his hand.

Law XXX.

A player called upon for an exposed card
must play the card or submit to the penalty
of a revoke.

Law XXXI.

The right to call one or more cards, im-
properly played or exposed, by an opponent,
belongs only to the left-hand adversary of the
offending player. And, in no case can such a
card be called if it causes a revoke ; nor, can
the player entitled to call, require his oppo-
nent to throw away a commanding card to a
lead of different suit, when holding no card of
the suit led, whether he can trump it or not.
If two or more players, in any one deal, ex-
pose a card, the law is the same.

102 EUCHRE.

Law XXXII.

Neither adversary is permitted to call the
attention of his partner to the state of the
game at a Bridge, without forfeiting their right
to order up, and the dealer, or his partner,
may then Play Alone, or not, at the option of
either.

Law XXXIII.

If the^ counter marks more points than he
is entitled to score to the game, either adver-
sary— or a bystander even— may call attention
to the error, and the opponents are entitled
to count to their score, the point, or points,
which their adversaries erroneously added to
theirs. But the error cannot be rectified after
the trump card has been turned in the deal
next ensuing that in which tke error occurred.
So if he fails to count, or counts fewer points
than he is entitled to, he loses the right to
score such point, or points, when the next deal
is completed.

Law XXXIV.

Should a player from loss of temper — or

LAWS. 103

upon supposition that he has lost or won the
proper number of tricks — or from any other
cause — throw down his cards upon the table,
with their faces turned up, he cannot take
them in hand again, and his left-hand adver-
sary may call each card so exposed as he
deems most advantageous to his side. Who
leaves the game loses it, is a maxim of this as
of all other games.

Law XXXV.

Every species of unfairness is strictly pro-
hibited ; and if a player, at any time between
the turning up of the trump card and the play-
ing of the last card of the deal, indicates to his
partner the strength of his own hand, either
by words or gestures ; or advises him how to
lead or play ; or invites him to make a trump,
by such expressions as " follow the rule,"
" make it something," or any similar phrase ;
or, asks any questions about the game except
such as are specifically allowed by the Laws
of Euchre, the adversaries shall immediately
add one point to their game,

104 EUCHRE.

Law XXXVI.

In every case of a penalty which entitles
one party to add a point, or more, to the score
of their game — for the revoke, or any other
wrong practice in play, — the offending party
cannot count a point, or more, which they may
have won in that deal — or round — in which
the penalty was incurred; and the regular
routine of the deal continues.

Law XXXVII.

Every penalty incurred by the misconduct
of a player must be shared and submitted to
by his partner — for partners are mutually
responsible for each other's faults.

Law XXXVIII.

If a player, who has incurred a penalty
imposed by a provision of any of the prece-
ding Laws, refuses submission to such penalty,
his opponents may immediately throw down
their cards, and that game, at any state of the
Bcore, is declared to belong to them.

CHAPTEE VII.

HINTS TO TYROS.

" Upon this hint I spake.' ' — Shakspeare.

" What could I more ?
I warn'd thee, I admonish'd thee, foretold
The danger, and the lurking enemy
That lay in wait."— Milton.

" Euchre and Life
Own their losses and gains in ephemeral strife.

* Play alone,' when you hold the * good cards' in the

pack ;

* Assist,' with the Ace, or the King and a Jack.

c Pass,' holding l both Bowers' — on refusal to take,
Yot can * make' it i the next' and can ' play what you

make f
Look out for the ' bridges,' and cross if you choose,
But with Euchre and Life, play to win not to lose."

Pettes.

The ensuing hints, confidingly and confi-
dently suggested to novices in our highly

(105)

106 EUCHRE.

scientific and gleesome game, result from an
experience gained in many a " glorious and
weli-foughten field, " and although not pre-
tending in these premises to be Sir Oracle yet
hand ineacpertm loquor. We hope they will
be kindly taken, as meant. Should they
appear trite and simple to players of a cer-
tain degree of skill, we beg permission to
remind them that the hints are offered only
to novitiates, with a desire fully to explain
to them some of the most approved points
of play.

We venture to invite attention to a few
words by way of prelude.

As the principle which guides us in social
intercourse (if we remember our early educa-
tion aright) is politeness — the observance of
those pleasing amenities which tend so much
to make life agreeable — so that which should
guide us at the card-table is good humor — that
card-inal virtue.

Adhere undeviatingly and persistently to
the law in each and every case made and pro-
vided, and remember " there is no power in

HINTS TO TYROS. 107

Venice can alter a decree established." Flay
the right game always — couU qui couie — and
insist on the strict play of the game by your
opponents, for no option in playing, at vari-
ance with prescribed precepts, can be tolera-
ted; and, if your partner commits an error,
require the other side to avail themselves of
the advantage attained by it — for the mistake
of one party is the game of the other, fairly.
Eschew especially every circumstance and
act that has a tendency to produce confusion
or misunderstanding in play.

Acquire the habit — it is easily accomplished
— of determining whether you pass, or order
up, without unnecessary suspense, and " hesi-
tate not to say." Promptness and a quick re-
sponse— "when 'tis done, then 'twere well it
were done quickly" — should be part and par-
cel of the play ; it is better to decide wrongly
a few times than mislead your partner by
hesitation. Nothing can be more irksome
than to see a player — especially if one's part-
ner— boggling over his cards, hesitating and
undecided what to do. Such indecision, be^

108 EUCHRE.

sides, betrays your hand. Holding but five
cards, a glance at them, simply, enables a
quick judgment to declare whether he will
pass, or not. " Speak quick — it is the strength
of the game," is the favorite ejaculation of a
favorite friend of ours.

Never exhibit peevishness and ill-temper —
reserve it for home-consumption — when you
lose, nor too great elation of joy when you
win; nor permit the calm expression of your
face to be ruffled by the appearance of your
hand; and bear all reverses with Christian
fortitude and Jewish resignation.

So, if your hand — we mean the cards you
hold, gentle tyro — should happen to be as red
as the saints' days in a Eomish calendar, or
as black as the concentrated essence of mid-
night, when the opposite colors are trumps,
pursue the even tenor of your play, witli
placid demeanor — with columbine innocence
and serpentine wisdom — and " publish it not"
with impatient demonstrations, or vituperative
expressions against ill-luck ; for cards, at
times, will obstinately run as chance directs.

HINTS TO TYROS. 109

" 'Tis not in mortals to command success," you
know — if you do not, it is time you did, you
understand.

" O there be players, that I have seen play,"
who grumble and fault-find as much over the
card-table, as they would chaffering and cavil-
ling in a market-house with a huckster ! — as
if cards were not invented for recreation and
amusement — " very reverend sport truly."

Should your partner make an occasional
misplay, take it kindly, and avoid, by all
means, that horrid practice of fault-finding
and censure — every one, you know, except
ourselves, commits blunders, and mistakes
are inevitable.

Should you be eminently successful in win-
ning from your adversaries, don't twit them
too often and persistently with their defeat,
but enjoy it secretly and quietly as we enjoy
love and poetry, for "modesty," says the re-
nowned Munchausen, u forbids individuals to
arrogate to themselves great successes or vic-
tories."

It may hap — once in a while — that you

110 EUCHEE.

will find yourself associated with a partner,
who is a novice in the philosophy and myste-
ries of our noble game, and when you "do
begin to perceive" that he is one of those un-
fortunate individuals of neglected erudition,
whose intense ignorance of the play is dis-
heartening— displaying the most marvellous
ingenuity in preventing you from winning,
and a cruelly tantalizing facility in helping
your opponents to defeat you — smile, if you
can ; — we always do. " llluc Ionicus."

In such a case, if no other kind of amuse-
ment can be resorted to, suggest refreshment,
you will find it a great relief; and, besides,
some one may then offer -to take your place at
the card-table, or your partner "for worse"
may obtain some more suitable employment.

Never give in and grow faint-hearted — hard
as it sometimes is to lose when near winning
— but console yourself with the comfortable
reflection that while the combat continues
victory is uncertain.

Although, at this game, the advantage
rather depends on skillful combinations, and

HINTS TO TYROS. Ill

a quick calculation of chances at the various
periods of play, than on high cards, yet the
most unskillful novice at the game may fre-
quently hold such commanding cards during
an entire seance that he must necessarily win
all the tricks, even from experienced experts,
for Bowers will defeat Aces, and Aces will
capture Kings. Avoid too much elation at a
run of luck, for, " the hood-wink'd goddess1'
must succumb to persistent skill : moreover,
you will soon find but little excitement in
like easy skirmishes. But, when cards do
range out equally and high on either side in
groups of threatening and overwhelming
strength, good scuffling hands, — " I love a hand
that meets mine own," — affording fine scope
for combinations of chance and skill, arousing
the accomplished adept's valor to the strife for
victory, " then comes the tug of war." We
have known players when holding such hands
to play a series of several hundred games,
without making a single error in play, 01
failing to win every trick on the cards
11 Think of that Master Brooks," and be emu-
lous.

112 EUCHRE.

Always consult the score of the game,
playing accordingly, and remember that the
policy of your antagonists is at variance with
your own. Never let your face betray your
hand. An air of coldness, and impassibility
of feature, are indispensable qualities in play.

There are many other circumstances of
play which we might assume to hint at that
cannot well be demonstrated by rules; but
deference to the opinions of others — older, if
not better soldiers, — your knowledge of the
refined observances and established usages of
society, and a certain natural tact, will guide
and counsel you, we fancy, better than any
suggestions of ours. Skill, of course, is only
acquired by practice.

Once more we earnestly recommend, nay
beseech you, to give no indications by ges-
ture or expression of the strength or weak-
ness of your cards, but preserve a stoical
placidity of countenance, eschewing in every
manner all species of unfairness; and we
hope it may be our fortune, " oft in the stilly
night," to meet you in friendly conflict on the
" velvet plain."

HINTS TO TYROS. 113

In the meantime let us return to our mut-
tons ; for, if we have a fault, it is digression.

After the ceremony of the deal has been
concluded, it is the duty of the eldest-hand to
order up the trump card or pass. He should
always order it up at a Bridge, — when not
sure of a trick, — as before explained ; he
should also, of course, (when sure of one
trick and has passed accordingly,) make the
trump, if the dealer turns it down, and for
the same reason that he would order up at
the Bridge. At any other stage of the game
he must hold a very strong hand in trumps
to order up. The Left-Bower, Ace, and ten
of trumps, with an Ace of a lay suit, or two
commanding cards of a lay suit, as a general
rule, would be sufficiently strong ; or the Ace,
King, ten, and seven of trumps — especially
if the fifth card in his hand is a high one.
The eldest-hand, when strong at the suit turned
for trumps, and also strong at the next in
suit — in utrumque paratus — should always
pass to Euchre the other side if the trump is
adopted ; for, if it should be turned down he
7

114 EUCHHK.

can then make the trump. As a general rule
he should always pass for a Euchre when as
strong at the next in suit.

Never order up with the two Bowers and
the Ace, or other high trump, if you have
two cards, even so low as the seven and eight
of the same color of the trump, because, if
the adversaries adopt the trump you are sure
to Euchre them, and if it is turned down you
have a lone hand at next in suit.

With the Right-Bower, Ace, and seven of
trumps, with a secondary card at the next in
suit, it is safe to pass, for you will probably
Euchre the hostile side, if the trump is
adopted, and you are almost sure of the odd
trick at the next suit, if the trump is turned
down.

Next In Suit, or Dutching, is deemed by
many eminent professors of the game one of
the most important elements of play ; the
principles upon which this rule is founded
we will here essay to explain. The pack is
composed of just thirty- two cards, of which
number twenty-one are thrown round by the

HINTS TO TYROS. 115

dealer for the play of each hand, leaving
eleven cards, say one-third of the entire pack,
in the talon. When the dealer and his part-
ner decline to play at the suit turned for
trumps, it is fair to presume that neither of
them holds a Bower — especially if the turn-
up is a court-card. The chances are greatly
in favor of the presumption that one of the
Bowers has been distributed in the deal, and
nearly equal that both of them are out. The
probability then is that one, if not both of
them, are in your partner's hand, yourself
having neither. And if the Bowers are not
out, it is raison de plus why you may win the
odd trick with fewer and weaker cards than
in an ordinary hand. Your partner, if a
skillful player, will never order up when
holding both Bowers only, but will pass for
the Euchre, if the trump is adopted, or for
next in suit, if turned down — for "so he
plays his part." We have known instances
when the eldest-hand's partner has played and
made a lone hand at next; in suit, when the
eldest-hand has made the trump, according to

116 EUCHRE.

rule, without having a single trump in hand
At all events the chances are much in favor
of making the trump next in suit, and favor-
ble chances should always be embraced.
"Have a care o' th' main chance." When
you follow this rule, always lead a trump,
unless you have the tenace of Right-Bower and
Aee, and you should lead the Bower then if
you hold commanding lay cards. It is some-
times asserted that if this rule is strictly ad-
hered to the dealer may often win a Euchre
by a ruse, in turning down when equally
strong at each suit of the color; but in the
event of his being strong at both suits, (the
exception to the rule; crossing the suit,) may
be in your hand. It is a bad rule, we are
told, that works only one way, and Exceptio
probat regulam, you know.

The eldest-hand opens the game, and as
success frequently depends upon the lead —
c'est le premier pas qui collie — he must bear that
fact in mind, and deploy his small force into
action skillfully, with decision.

It is a rule with many experienced players to
lead through the assisting hand, that is, when

HINTS TO TYROS. - 117

the dealer's partner assists, the eldest-hand is
always expected to lead a trump, if he has one,
in every case, except when a Bower is turned
up, or you have the Left-Bower guarded.
The exceptions to this rule, we think, are so
multitudinous that the practice is almost as
much "honored in the .breach as the obser-
vance." The rationale of the rule is founded
on the supposition that the player who assists
may hold but two trumps, and by leading a
trump, his trumps and his partner's are
brought together, and if you or your partner
have commanding cards in lay suits you may
make a Euchre. And, moreover, if your
partner holds two trumps, by leading through
the strong hand up to the weak — the dealer's
partner, assisting, is supposed to be in that
position — you give your partner an opportu-
nity to finesse. These are the only advan-
tages we now revive in memory. If the
eldest-hand holds one or two trumps, — espe-
cially if small, — with commanding cards in
other suits, the trump should then most as-
suredly be led.

118 EUCHRE.

Should he hold three trumps of various
value and two lay cards of suit, — the seven
and Queen for instance — and is playing to
Euchre the dealer, he should always lead. the
lay seven, for when he wins the rentree with
one of his small trumps, the Queen will then
either win the trick or force a trump from
the opponents. If the eldest-hand's partner
should win the first or the second trick he
should never return such a lead, because the
eldest-hand, if he comprehends his vocation,
will never commence the round with an iso-
lated plebeian card, unless for some excep-
tional cause.

With two trumps, two lay cards of suit,
and one single lay card, commence with one
of the two lay cards, for one of your trumps
may bring you back to your suit, and your
second lay card will then probably force the
other side to trump. Never open with the
single lay card when holding such a hand, be-
cause you may have an opportunity of throw-
ing it away on a trick of your partner's, or,
when second player, on a lead of a numerical

HINTS TO TYEOS. 119

card of the suit of which you have none, which
will enable you to ruff its suit, if led by either
of your adversaries, and win you a trick.

When playing to Euchre, if you have two
or more small trumps with commanding lay
cards, lead a small trump as it may enable
you to make the high cards when trumps are
expended.

When your partner orders up, or makes
the trump, always lead him one — the best you
have — without regard to tenace or Left-Bower
guarded.

When, being eldest-hand, you are scoring
three points to your game, and your adversa-
ries count one, or nothing, and you hold very
weak and sickly looking cards, although this
is not a Bridge, yet it is often well to order
up and take a Euchre — especially if a Bower
is turned up— rather than risk a lone hand to
the other side ; and if you are Euchred, you
are Euchred — que sara sara, as we used to say
at Florence. Santissima madonna, those days
are passed !

If you hold a lay Ace, when opposed to a

120 EUCHRE.

lone hand, always lead it, for if you hold a
King or Queen doubled, you have an addi-
tional chance to prevent the march of the lone
player.

That condition of the game in the flood tide
of luck, termed the Bridge, is fully explained
at the close of Chapter III, to which we re-
spectfully beg leave to refer. When it carries
you safely over, praise it. And thus much for
your duty as eldest-hand, and we, like Eng-
land, expect every man to do his duty.

Your performance, as second player, — when
" the game's afoot," and the eldest-hand has
given you " a taste of his quality," — is much
more circumscribed and simple, consisting
mainly in following the suit led, or in ruff-
ing it; and this easy duty and irresponsible
continues through each of the five rounds in
which you have to play second-fiddle.

When confident of winning two tricks al-
ways assist and rely on your partner to win
one trick.

The second player (the dealer's partner as
they sit at the table) must remember, however,

HINTS TO TYROS. 121

that when the trurap card has been turned
down by the dealer, and the eldest-hand has
passed the making, it is his duty — though not
quite so imperatively on him as it is on the
eldest-hand to make the next in suit — to cross
the suit, that is, to make the trump either of
the black suits, (the one in which he is the
stronger, of course,) when a red suit has been
turned down, and vice versa, and for nearly the
same reasons, just given to the eldest-hand for
making next in suit.

As second player rarely ruff a numerical
lay card the first time round, as the chances
are even that your partner may win the trick.
Throw away any single lay card of less value
than an Ace, if you have one or two small
trumps, on such a lead, which will enable you
to ruff its suit when led. Also underplay a
numerical trump, risking the chance of your
partner winning it. We have an acquired
antipathy to a single lay card and love to dis-
pose of its bachelor-like wretchedness by em-
embracing the first opportunity.

So often as the lead changes the relative po-

122 EUCHRE.

sitions of the players — as the leader, second,
third, and fourth player — also vary, of course.

Second player following suit to lay cards,
as a general rule, should always head, that is
win the trick, if he can. The same, with few
exceptions, when playing trumps.

With one trump only, if the Eight-Bower
himself single, and your partner adopts or
makes the trump, ruff with it the first chance.

When you can neither follow suit nor trump,
throw away the weakest card you have, natu-
rally.

In the situation of third player your " offi-
cious duties" become more onerous. When
playing to win a Euchre, if you hold a small and
a medium card, at trumps, and have the oppor-
tunity to ruff, stick in the medium trump, if
third player, which may force the dealer to play
his best trump. Never send a boy, you know,
on a man's errand. And this, by-the-by, re-
minds us of a pretty problem in play. Sup-
pose yourself sitting on the right hand of the
dealer who has turned the Knave of spades,
and adopted the trump. Two rounds have

HINTS TO TYROS. 123

been played — the first trick having been won
by your opponents, and the second by your
partner. Your partner leads in a lay suit
and is followed by the second player, and you
hold the Left-Bower, Ace, and Queen of
trumps, you play either the Left-Bower, or
Ace, and the dealer holds the Eight-Bower,
King, and ten of trumps. If the dealer takes
the trick with the Eight-Bower, which he
would naturally be inclined to do, he is
Euchred, because you then have the tenace.
But, on the contrary, if he should play the
ten of trumps and let you win the trick, he
gains the odd-trick, as by this underplay he
secures the tenace to himself. If you had
played the Queen — which would have been a
horrid play — you would, of course, have lost
the odd-trick. This simple problem is deemed
worthy of especial commendation, as illustra-
tive of the peculiar advantage of the tenace.

You should be very strong in trumps to
order up, because your partner, passing, shows
that he is weak, or prefers to make the next
in suit. As a general rule let the responsi-

124 EUCHRE.

bility of ordering up rest with your partner
when he is eldest-hand.

When your partner has adopted or made
the trump, be careful not to win the lead from
him, unless you are strong enough to play for
a march, or to win the odd trick.

Always divest your hand of losing cards,
when possible, to your partner's winning ones.

If your partner in the third or fourth round
leads a lay King (you having none of its suit)
which is not captured by your right-hand ad-
versary, and you have a lay King of different
suit, with trumps, throw it away on your part-
ner's lead, for his King having passed safely
through one hand is much more likely to win
than yours would be, having to pass through
both hands. Trust it through one hand rather
than two is the rule. Play in like manner in
like cases, you understand.

Opportunities to finesse occur but rarely,
and when they are offered should be exercised
with considerable caution. It is much better
for the third player to win the trick than risk
its loss by any delicate stratagem of play.

HINTS TO TYROS. 125

The vocation of the dealer is replete with
interest. He should commence by distribu-
ting the cards with exactness, not allowing
any card to be exposed, except the one
turned for the trump, or his antagonists may
declare the deal null, and he will have to per-
form it afresh. He should always discard a
single card, though above medium value, and
retain two of suit, if one of them is not
higher than a nine. When he determines to
Play Alone with three trumps, he should
always discard even so high a card as a King
of a lay suit when the only card of the suit,
and retain the seven, or any other card, of a
suit of which he holds the Ace, for the
chances are much better that the Ace will
exhaust the suit and let the seven win, than
that the King would win the first time round.

If his partner, assisting, has played one
trump, the dealer winning a trick should
never lead him a trump, unless he is sure of
winning the march, or the odd trick, with his
own hand; for the probability is that his
partner has assisted with two trumps only,

126 EUCHRE.

and by leading a trump to him he may draw
the last he holds, and in that way entirely
destroy his game. This is a fatal mistake
but often made by inexperienced players, and
is conspicuously improper, as you see. But
if your partner assists, and your side have
captured the first two or three rounds, leav-
ing you with commanding trumps and sure
lay cards, win the lead from him then and
secure the march, for he might be left to lead
a losing card not of your sure suit .

Always when assisted, Mr. Dealer, and
you hold the card next higher or lower
to the trump card, play it instead of the
trump card for your partner's benefit. —
Thus, if you turn up a King, and also have
the Ace in hand, and your partner assists,
when a trump is led, or you can ruff a suit,
you should play the Ace, which shows your
partner that you have the King left.

Having a sequence of three trumps of
which the turn-up card is the smallest, and
your partner assists, play the highest, which
informs him that you. have two more trumps

HINTS TO TYROS, 127

of equal value. As in case tte Queen is
turned up, and his partner assists, if the
dealer holds the King and Ace, making a
sequence of three trumps, when the trump
is led, or he can ruff, he should play the Ace,
which makes his partner understand that he
holds the King also. The same in all similar
cases.

So, also, if a sequence of three or four
cards in play shows all the cards above the
turn-up card, and your hand continues the
sequence, play the highest card for your part-
ner's benefit. Par example: The nine of
hearts is turned for trump, and the ten, Queen
and Ace, of hearts, are played to a trick ; if
you hold the King of trumps play it, because
your nine is as good as your King, and by
playing the King your partner knows that
you have certainly one trump in hand, and
moreover, that it requires one of the Bowers
to win it.

But if your opponents have ordered up
the trump and you hold a similar hand, it is
obvious — on the principle of contrariwise,

128 EUCHRE.

otherwise— that you should play " quite the
diverse/7 to balk them, as you clearly per-
ceive.

Eetain the trump card, when your side
have adopted it, as long as possible, to benefit
your partner; and, on the contrary, dispose
of it the first opportunity, to put your adver-
saries in doubt, when it has been ordered up.

A few more illustrative hints — to each and
every player, in a general way — we hope may
be taken, as we offer them, in the very spirit
of kindness.

Always play to benefit your partner — in
every possible way you can with fairness and
good order — and to balk your antagonists
by masking your hand, for in Euchre, as in
Love and in War, all manoeuvres are admissi-
ble.

Three trumps, if medium ones only, are
sufficient to take up the trump, or to assist
your partner, or, ordinarily, to make the
trump suit. If you hold Knaves, and com-
manding cards of two or more suits, it often
proves successful to pass both the adoption

HINTS TO TYKOS. 129

and the making, to Euchre your adversaries
if they adopt or make it. Especially if the
other side dealt, for if they pass also you
gain the deal.

Always lead a trump to your partner —
if eldest-hand, or you have won the rentree — -
when he adopts or makes the trump — except
when he assists and has played one trump —
especially if you should hold either of the
Bowers only.

When last player and the trick, in a lay
suit, if the first or second round, is your part-
ner's, and you hold a single lay card, and one
or more trumps, throw away that single card,
if so high as a King even, on your partner's
trick, for if he holds a card in that suit he
will of course lead it, which may enable you
to win the trick with a trump.

When your side, having adopted, or made
the trump, have lost one trick, you must then
play cautiously to prevent being Euchred, for
the risk you might venture when playing to
make a march would be quite improper when
you have lost one trick.
8

130 EUCHRE.

Having lost the first two tricks a ad won
the third, if you have one trump left, lead it
— either to make or to save a Euchre — for
if your adversaries have a trump larger than
yours they must win the odd trick ; and, if it
is smaller, you may exhaust them and win
the fifth trick with your lay card. The only
exception to this rule is when you have as-
sisted— or your partner has taken it up — and
your partner still retains the trump card ; and,
if your trump is higher than your partner's,
and you have a winning card for the fifth
round, you should lead the trump then.

Holding a sequence of trumps, and playing
to Euchre the adversaries, always play the
highest to balk them ; for instance, if you hold
Ace, King, and Queen of trumps, and a Bower
is led, play the Ace.

When holding the Left-Bower and one other
trump, the Left-Bower guarded as it is termed,
be cautious how you separate them, for if the
Eight-Bower should be led, by playing your
smaller trump to it you are sure to win with
the Left-Bower.

HINTS TO TYROS. 131

When you hold the Left-Bower alone
whether you are playing to your partner's
adoption or make of the trump, or to Euchre
your opponents, ruff with it as soon as you
have the chance, at any stage or condition of
the play — otherwise it may fall to the Eight-
Bower, when the trump is led. Make the
Bight-Bower in the same manner, if your only
trump, when your partner assists or makes the
trump, for when he wins the rentree he would
almost certainly lead his highest trump, and
your Bower, winning it, might sadly injure
his game.

In adopting or making the trump you may
always rely on your partner to win one of the
five tricks.

It is a rule in play that a lay Queen never
wins a trick. This is not strictly correct, but
near enough to the truth to be adopted as a
general rule.

Keep your mind on the cards, as we for-
tune-tellers say, and remember how the suits
fall in play, so as not to be trumping with a
seven or eight a commanding lay card of your

182 EUCHRE.

partner's — a sottise, by the way, not unfre-
quently committed.

Be cautious how you adopt or make the
trump when the hostile side are scoring three
points ; for, if you are Euchred, you put them
out, and, in another sense of the expression,
you may put out your partner too, which
would be grievous.

Opponent to a Lone Player, and holding the
seven and nine of one suit, with single cards
in each of the other suits — if Queens even —
never separate the two of suit although there
is a single chance only that one of them may
win. You will be surprised, and delighted
too — we assure you, you will — to see how of-
ten the nine in such cases prevents the march
of the Lone Player, and ruffles his equanimity.
We always rely more confidently on a Knave
and seven of a lay suit, in such case, than on a
lay King single.

We believe we have annunciated this doc-
trine before ; but, excuse us, for truth cannot
be too oft asserted.

These leading principles in the practice of

HINTS TO TYROS. 133

the game should always be retained in mind,
though combinations of cards in the various
distributions into hands — like the myrioramic
changes of the Kaleidoscope — may diversify
the manner of the play almost a V infini. When
such peculiar idiosyncrasies require your at-
tention they should be treated — according to
Gunter.

It is quite unnecessary to offer any obser-
vations on that branch of the doctrine of
chances which might apply to our game, — or
to point out that the dealer's chance of turning
up a Knave is seven to one against him ; or
why, when you adopt or make the trump the
chances are in favor of your partner's winning
one trick, — for it is obvious that games, con-
tingent upon chance and combination, cannot
be reduced to the exactness of the propositions
of Euclid and be made to conform to a u rigid
and infallible geometry." Besides, the " cer-
tainties of chances" we do not affect to com-
prehend, but only "have a care o' th7 main
chance." Yet, to gratify a curiosity that
might crave such enlightenment, and simply

134 EUCHRE.

alluding to the ramifications of chances which
enter into the play, we will mention that there
are 4,591 chances to 1 against holding the
Jamboree ; that it is 27 to 5 against holding
the Eight-Bower, or any one particular,
certain card; and that 201,876 separate and
different hands — like the stripes on a zebra's
back, no two alike — may be held in this
pleasant game.

"In this journey through life, should dame Fortune's

dark frown
Upon you be cast, let it ne'er weigh you down ;
Should friends fail to 'assist' and 'pass* heedlessly by,
And you should Euchred be — why still never say die."

" And so may you ever, while playing life's game,
Have the Queen and the King and the Ace of the same ;
Encircled with Diamonds, with Hearts, and with

Bowers,
Enjoying the perfume of love's happy hours.' '

RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER,

THE DEAL AND DEALING OF THE CARDS.

The deal is of no special value, and any-
body may begin.

The dealer, beginning with the person at
his left, throws around five cards to each
player, giving one card at a time.

The dealer shuffles and makes up the pack
himself, or it may be done by the player at
his left, and the player at his right must cut,

To begin the pool, the player next to the
dealer on his left must put up money, which
is called an " ante," and then, in succession,
each player, passing around to the left, must,
after looking at his hand, determine if he goes
in or not ; and each person deciding to play for
the pool must put in twice the amount of the
ante. Those who decline to play throw up
their cards, face downward, on the table, and
per consequence, in front of the next dealer.

(135)

136 RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER.

When all who wish to play have gone in,
the person putting up the ante can either give
up all interest in the pool, thus forfeiting the
ante which has been put up, or else can play-
like the others who have gone in by " making
good," that is, putting up in addition to the
ante as much more as will make him equal in
stake to the rest.

If a number of players have gone in, it is
best generally for the ante man to make good,
and go in, even with a poor hand, because half
his stake is already up, and he can therefore
stay in for half as much as the others have
had to put up, which is a percentage in favor
of his taking the risk. This, of course, does
not apply if any one has " raised," that is,
more than doubled the ante before it comes
around to the starting point.

Any one at the time of going in must put
up as much as double the ante, and may put
up as much more as he pleases by way of
" raising " the ante, in which case every other
player must put up as much as will make his
stake equal to such increase, or else abandon
what he has already put in.

RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER. 137

Each player, as he makes good and equals
the others who are in before him, can thus
increase the ante if he chooses, compelling the
others still to come up to that increase or to
abandon their share in the pool.

All " going in" or "raising" of the pool,
as well as all betting afterward, must be in
regular order, going round by the left ; no one
going in, making good, increasing the ante, or
betting, except in turn.

When all are in equally who intend to play,
each player in turn will have the privilege of
drawing ; that is, of throwing away any num-
ber of his five cards and drawing as many
others, to try thus to better his hand. The
cards thus thrown up must be placed face
downwards on the table, and, for convenience,
in front of or near the next dealer.

The dealer, passing around to the left, will
ask each player in turn how many cards he will
have, and deal him the number asked for from
the top of the pack without their being seen.
The dealer, if he has gone in to play for the
pool, will, in like manner, help himself last.

The players must throw away their dis-

138 RULES FOE PLAYIXG DRAW POKER,

carded cards before taking up or looking at
those they dr;

EVERY PLAYER FOR HLMSELF.

In the game every player is for himself
and against all others, and to that end will not
let any of his cards be seen, nor betray the
value of his hand bv drawing or plavine out
of his turn, or by change of countenance, or
any other sign. It is a great object to mys-
tify your adversaries up to the u call," when
hands have to be shown. To this end it is
mitted to chad'1 or talk nonsense, with a
view of misleading your adversaries as to the
value of your hand, but this must be without
unreasonably delaying the game.

\Then the drawing is all complete, the bet-
ting goes around in order, like the drawing,
to the left. The ante man is the first to bet
unless he has dec-lined to play, and in that case
the first to bet is the player nearest to t
dealer on his left. But the player entitled to
bet first may withhold his bet until the otl.
have bet round to him, which is called "hold-
ing the r_v." and this being an advantag
ild, as a general rule, be practised.

RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER. 139

Each better, in turn, must put into the pool
a sum equal at least to the first bet made; but
each may in turn increase the bet or raise it as
it comes to him ; in which case, the bets, pro-
ceeding around in order, must be made by-
each player in his turn equal to the highest
amount put in by any one, or else failing to
do that, the party who fails must go out of the
play, forfeiting his interest in the pool.

When a player puts in only as much as has
been put in by each player who has preceded
him, that is called " seeing " the bet.

When a player puts in that much, and
raises it, that is called seeing the bet and
" going better."

When the bet goes around to the last better
or player who remains in, if he does not wish
to see and go better, he simply sees and
" calls," and then all playing must show their
hands, and the highest hand wins the pool.

When any one declines to see the bet, or the
increase of bet which has been made, he " lays
down ;; his hand, that is, throws it up with the
cards face downward on the table. If all the
other players throw clown their hands, the one

140 RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKEE.

who remains in to the last wins, and takes th \
pool without showing his hand.

To "bluff" is to take the risk of betting
high enough on a poor hand or a worthless
one, to make all the other players lay down
their hands without seeing or calling you.

When a hand is complete, so that the holder
of it can play without drawing to better it,
that is called a " pat " hand. A bold player
will sometimes decline to draw any cards, and
pretend to have a pat hand, and play it as
such, when he has none.

A skilful player will watch and observe
what each player draws, the expression of the
face, the circumstances and manner of betting,
and judge, or try to judge, of the value of
each hand opposed to him accordingly.

No one is bound to answer the question
how many cards he drew, except the dealer ;
and the dealer is not bound to tell after the
betting has begun.

DRAWING OF CARDS.

If the player determines to draw to a pair,
he draws three cards. If he draws to two
pair, he draws one card.

RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER. 141

If he holds three to begin with, he draws
two cards, in order to have the best chance
of making a full, inasmuch as, in playing,
pairs are apt to run together. But to deceive
his adversaries and make them think he has
nothing better than two pairs, a sharp player
will often draw but one card to his threes.

It is advisable sometimes to keep an ace,
or other high card, as an " outsider " with a
small pair and draw but eja4 card-£-thus tak- *
ing the chances of matching the high cards,
and so getting a good two pairs, or something
better, possibly — while at the same time others
may be deceived into believing that the player
is drawing to threes.

When drawing to cards of the same suit, to
try to make a flush, or to cards of successive
denominations, to try to make a sequence, as
many more cards are to be taken as will be
needed to fill out the flush or the sequence. But
it is seldom advisable to venture in to draw
for either a flush or a sequence when more
than one card is required to complete the hand.

When a player holds fours in his original
hand, it is as good as it can be ; and yet it is

142 RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER.

best to throw away the outside card and draw
one, because others may then think he is only
drawing to two pairs, or for a flush or a
sequence, and will not suspect the great value
of the hand.

When one is in (as he ought seldom to be)
without even so much as a pair, his choice
must be, either to discard four cards, or three
cards, and draw to the highest or two highest
in the hand, or throw away the whole hand
and draw five, or look content and serious;
stand, pat, and bet high !

The player, determining to try this last
alternative on a worthless hand, had generally
better begin by raising when he goes in, or
else nobody will be likely to believe in his
pretended strong hand.

RELATIVE VALUE OF HANDS IN THEIR
ORDER, BEGINNING WITH THE BEST.

1. A Sequence Flush — Which is a sequence
of five cards, and all of the same suit.

2. Fours — Which is four of the five cards
of the same denomination.

3. A Full — Which is a hand consisting of

RULES FOE PLAYING DRAW POKER. 143

three cards of the same denomination and two
of likewise equal denomination.

4. A Flush — Which is all five cards of the
same suit.

5. A Sequence* — Which is all five cards
not of the same suit but all in sequence. [In
computing the value of a sequence, an ace
counts either as the highest or lowest card,
that is, below a deuce or above a king.]

6. Threes — Which is three cards of the
same denomination, but the other two of dif-
ferent denominations from each other.

7. Two pairs.

8. One pair.

9. When a hand has neither of the above,
the count is by the cards of highest value or
denomination.

When parties, opposed, each holds a pair,
the highest pair wins, and the same when
each party holds threes or fours.

When each party holds two pairs, the

* Many experts rate threes in relative value above a
sequence, but the better opinion is that a sequence should
rank first, as being in itself one of the complete hands.

144 RULES FOR PLAYING DRAW POKER.

highest pair of the two determines the relative
value of the hands.

When each party holds a sequence, the
hand commencing with the highest card in
sequence wins; so also when two or more
parties hold flushes against each other.

That "full" counts highest of which the
three cards of the same denomination are high-
est. The two cards of the same denomination
help only to constitute the full, but do not
add to the value of the hand.

When hands are equal so far that each
party holds a pair, or two pairs, of exactly
the same value, then the next highest card or
cards in each hand, must be compared with
the next highest card or cards in the other
hand, to determine which wins.

In case of the highest hands (which very
seldom occurs) being exactly equal the pool is
divided.

The main elements of success in the game
are: (1) good luck; (2) good cards; (3) plenty
of cheek ; and (4) good temper.